The
Israel-Lebanon/Hezbollah War—(July 12,
2006-August 14, 2006): The latest chapter in the ongoing
Arab-Israeli Conflict began on July 12, 2006, when
guerillas from the Islamic Lebanese group, Hezbollah
(Arabic for "Party of God), crossed into Israel and
attacked an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) patrol, killing
three and capturing two others. They then returned to
southern Lebanon with their prisoners. Hezbollah's
leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said the men were taken in
order to set up a prisoner exchange with Israel. Israel's
Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, declared the attack an "act
of war" on Lebanon's part, and promised a strong
response.

In
Lebanon, this war is known as the "July War," while many
Israelis call it the "Second Lebanon War."

Hezbollah
launched "Operation True Promise" at 9:05 AM, on July 12,
2006. The operation began with a diversionary attack of
rockets and mortar shells fired at Israeli settlements
and military posts near the Israel-Lebanon border.
Hezbollah troops then entered Israel, attacked two
armored Israeli Humvees, patrolling the border village of
Zar'it, with rocket propelled grenades, killing three
soldiers and capturing two others. The Hezbollah force
then retreated back into Lebanon with their captives,
later identified as Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad
Regev.

An
Israeli Merkava Mark II tank that was stationed nearby
attempted to pursue the captors into Lebanon in a rescue
attempt, but was hit by an improvise explosive device
(IED), killing all four crew members. Another Israeli
soldier died during an attempt to recover the bodies from
the destroyed tank

After
Hezbollah's cross-border raid, the Israeli military
launched air, naval, and ground attacks at Hezbollah
targets across Lebanon, and Hezbollah responded by
launching hundreds of rockets into northern Israel, many
reaching as far south as the port city of
Haifa.

Hezbollah
also damaged an Israeli warship ten miles off the
Lebanese coast with an Iranian-made unmanned drone, which
rammed the ship and exploded.

Both
sides continued to trade rocket, missile, and, artillery
attacks, with most of the damage done to civilian targets
on either side of the border. Israel's strategy seems to
be to cut off Lebanon and Hezbollah from any aid they may
receive from Syria or Iran, who are Hezbollah's main
suppliers of weapons, money, and military
training.

For a
trans-border Arab-Israeli war, this conflict was
different than most. Israel at first responded lightly in
the ground war, apparently relying on the air and
artillery campaign to inflict most of the damage.
Hezbollah responded with wave after wave of rockets and
missiles supplied largely by Syria and Iran over the past
several years. Some of the larger Hezbollah rockets were
able to strike the Israeli port city of Haifa, inflicting
damage and causing civilian casualties. The Israeli
strategy seemed two-fold: cut off Hezbollah from its
suppliers and allies in Syria and Iran, while also
striking Lebanese infrastructure targets with no apparent
connection to Hezbollah. Israel hoped to show the
Lebanese government and people that Hezbollah brought
death and destruction to their county, hoping that this
lesson would turn popular opinion against the Shiite
militia. The opposite effect seems to have taken hold,
however, with most Lebanese Muslims increasing their
approval or outright support for Hezbollah, while even
Lebanese Christians, normally not friendly to Islamic
parties or militias, blamed Israel for attacking civilian
targets as an act of punishment. While this political and
psychological goal failed, Israel also failed to stop
Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns. The
air campaign did not work in terms of increasing Israeli
civilian safety during the war.

The
ground campaign also seemed lacking. Unlike past wars,
such as the 1956 war against Egypt or the 1967 war
against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, or the 1982 invasion of
Lebanon, the Israeli military did not immediately launch
powerful assaults on the ground to root out and destroy
their foes. Ground attacks did occur, largely from the
second week on, but these were individual assaults to
take or neutralize specific targets fairly close to the
border. One significant commando assault did take place
in the northeastern Lebanese city of Baalbeck, but that
was designed as a specific attack to seize individual
Hezbollah leaders. Only in the days leading up the United
Nations-brokered cease-fire in the middle of August did
the Israeli military launch a powerful drive which took
it to the Litani River in southern Lebanon.

On
Hezbollah's side, the war showed that their guerillas,
though technically only a militia, possessed the training
and fighting ability of a well-trained army division.
Technologically, they surprised Israel with the depth and
range of its missiles. One missile crippled an Israeli
naval ship and sank a commercial freighter off the
Lebanese coast in the early days of the war. Iranian-made
missiles landed as far south as Haifa. For the first time
since before the 1967 war, major Israeli civilian
population centers came under attack.

The war
also showed once again that the Lebanese government is
helpless to defend its own territory or to keep other
countries from fighting proxy wars and conflicts on its
land. Just as when the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) moved in and took over southern Lebanon in the
1970s to fight its war with Israel, the government shows
that it cannot stop Lebanon from being a battleground for
others.

By August
12, Israel, Lebanon, and Hezbollah all agreed to a United
Nations cease-fire to begin on Monday the
14th.

This war is a part of the
wider Israel-Lebanon
Conflict which
dates from the first Israeli invasion of Lebanon in
1978.

On March 19, 2007, Israel
formally declared the 2006 conflict with Lebanon's
Hezbollah guerrillas a war, but Israel is searching for a
name for the 34-day conflict.

On Wednesday July 16
2008, Israel and Hezbollah initiated deal whereby
Hezbollah turned over the bodies of the two captured
Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, in
exchange for Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar, four
Hezbollah militants captured during the war, and the
bodies of approximately 200 other Lebanese and
Palestinian militants held by Israel. This prisoner swap
prompted some criticism in Israel, especially after it
was learned that Samir Kuntar was one of the released
prisoners. Kumar and the other released militants, were
greeted by a hero's welcome in Beirut.